Now Hiring: How to Reach (and Hire) Qualified Candidates in 2022

Over the course of the last few years, the hiring landscape has been drastically, and perhaps permanently, changed. Whether you have referred to it as “The Great Resignation” or “The Big Quit,” in the wake of COVID-19, companies are having a more difficult time than ever reaching, hiring, and retaining workers due to the shifting needs and priorities of many job seekers. And a “Now Hiring” sign in the window just doesn’t cut it in today’s market.

To keep up in this fast-paced environment, companies must evolve their tactics for catching the attention of potential new hires—which can require some unique strategizing on the part of the HR and marketing teams and specific new hire marketing campaigns. 

Changing with the Tide

The biggest mistake you can make in new hire marketing campaigns is assuming that what has worked in the past will continue to work. Just as the business itself must adapt to a changing market and shifting values in the workforce, hiring initiatives must shift to appeal to candidates within that changing market. 

Applicants are scrolling through hundreds of job listings every day, so the burden of grabbing job hunters’ attention falls squarely on you. The hiring market is fiercely competitive and it is crucially important to have a handle on what’s working and what’s not, right now. 

At Taradel, we deploy thousands of marketing campaigns a year—many of them specifically geared towards “now hiring” efforts. This experience gives us a unique view into what’s currently driving results. Here’s what we’re seeing, organized into a few key steps you can take to ramp up your company’s recruitment strategy campaigns to draw top-notch candidates into your application process and increase the odds of a good hire.  

Know what candidates value

This should be a given, but it’s easy to forget how necessary it is to highlight the specific pain points of your target audience and then directly tie those to the aspects of the job that may help. Advertising things like “great office culture” and “opportunity for growth” might have worked fine a few years ago, but now it’s important to share the specifics.

Is your workforce largely working parents? Advertise the ways that the job is family-friendly, which could be anything from shift flexibility to on-site child care. Do you hire mostly college students? Include the office’s distance from the local campus in your “Now Hiring” messages, or your free Friday lunches. If you consider specifically who you are trying to hire, it will be easier to think through what messaging will work best in your new hire marketing campaign to actually draw candidates in.

Clearly highlight your benefits—and test to see what appeals most!

One of the best ways to catch the interest of job hunters in your target audience is to clearly and concisely list the key benefits, including starting pay, available shifts, information about paid or unpaid time off, and any included retirement or insurance benefits.

However, depending on your target audience, different benefits may have greater appeal. This offers the opportunity to test different messages and measure which gets the best response.

At their core, advertising campaigns are built on the principle of “test and learn” to discover what drives the results you need, and your new hire marketing campaigns should leverage this to make sure your “Now Hiring” messages are as effective as possible for the current market.

Know where to advertise

As you’re researching the values and demographics of your target audience, it is helpful to know where your ideal candidate lives, shops, and browses so you can specifically target your new hire marketing campaign to those places. Focusing advertising efforts to specific geographic areas can save your company money that might have been wasted on a more general campaign. And, these local campaigns get your listing in front of more of the people who are most likely to apply.

While many businesses are still spinning their wheels pushing advertisements and email blasts everywhere possible, you can get ahead of the curve by targeting digital ads and sending direct mail postcards to key audiences. Focusing efforts in the right places and to the correct audiences through local campaigns can make your recruitment dollars go further and work more efficiently. 

Streamline the process

Once you’ve caught the attention of the right candidates, the easier it is for them to apply the better. Whether your “Now Hiring” listing is on a job site or in an email or banner ad, make sure that a click leads directly to a hiring page with information and quick access to the application itself. If it is a physical listing, a short web address or QR code leading to the job page will do the trick.

As previously stated, many applicants are filling out multiple applications per day, so if your application is easy to access and easy to fill out—including the ability to import existing resume details from a major job site like Indeed or Linkedin—you’re likely to see a lot more completed applications from grateful candidates.

Get feedback from employees and applicants to refine tactics

Once you’ve successfully made a few hires, or even just conducted some interviews, it can be helpful to survey your new employees or applicants to ask why your new hire marketing campaign caught their attention, as well as what could be improved for future recruitment efforts.

If you haven’t been on a job search in a while it’s difficult to know exactly what the experience looks like for current applicants, so asking for feedback from people who are fresh off the job hunt can help you measure results and refine your recruitment marketing to be more appealing to the current target audience. Nobody has a better idea of what applicants are looking for than a recent applicant. 

“Now Hiring” Results

Bear in mind that not every marketing strategy will be able to override the inertia of the post-pandemic hiring market and some internal company changes may still be necessary to prime the flow of interested applicants. However, taking a well-considered, test-and-learn approach to your new hire marketing campaign can make huge strides in attracting candidates who may otherwise have scrolled past your “Now Hiring” listing. 

Need help recruiting and hiring?
If you need help in making the greatest possible impact with your next recruitment campaign, Taradel can provide you with everything you need to create and launch attractive digital and direct mail advertisements to potential job candidates through a local campaign to your ideal target audience. Reach out today for information and rates.